This invention relates to a new and distinctive hybrid banana variety designated as ‘CQB 115’. The new hybrid variety was the result of a field cross performed in 2004 in La Lima, Cortes, Honduras between SH-3658×‘Pisang Mas’ (both unpatented). SH-3648 is a dwarf tetraploid cooking banana resistant to black Sigatoka leaf spot disease, developed from accessions and breeding lines that are unpatented and are in a La Lima, Cortes, Honduras germplasm collection. The pedigree of SH-3648 is II-408 and I-63→SH-2952×SH-2741→SH-3386×SH-3362→SH-3648. The two original II-408 and I-63 parental lines are the ‘Gaddatu’ (ABB) triploid clone from the Philippines and a Musa balbisiana (BB) diploid clone of unknown origin that was collected in Costa Rica. SH-2741 is a dwarf, bred diploid that was derived from AVP-45×AVP-23→SH-90×II-334→SH-2518×II-158→SH-2741. The AVP-45, AVP-23, II-334 and II-158 parental lines are a wild Musa acuminata subsp. zebrina diploid accession from Java, a ‘Robusta’ Cavendish triploid clone that was collected in Jamaica, a wild Musa acuminata subsp. siamea diploid from Malaysia, and a parthenocarpic Musa acuminata subsp. errans diploid from North Borneo, respectively. The male parent, ‘Pisang Mas’, is a naturally occurring diploid (AA). ‘Pisang Mas’ produces small bunches and very sweet-flavored fingers, which are eaten fresh or used as dessert and are sweeter than the common Cavendish banana.
‘CQB 115’ was selected in 2009 from several first-generation seedlings from the cross between SH-3658 and ‘Pisang Mas’. It was selected as a triploid hybrid that maintained the dwarf plant stature and black Sigatoka leaf spot disease-resistance of its SH-3648 female parental line and produced bunches of 20 kilograms with fruits of the same quality of the male ‘Pisang Mas’ parental line.
‘CQB 115’ was asexually reproduced by corms by the inventor at the experimental farm in La Lima, Cortés, Honduras. All plant and fruit characteristics run true to the original selected plant and are identical in all aspects.